Digitalization and automation are already impacting how the world works with even bigger changes to come. Market analytics firm Bain & Company forecasts that 25% of current jobs will disappear altogether by 2030, and many more jobs will undergo dramatic shifts and require new and different skill sets. To get more insight into how digitalization is reverberating through the employment sphere in Greater China, AmCham Taipei invited Christine Raynaud, CEO of Human Resources firm Morgan Philips Greater China, to speak at a luncheon entitled “Digitalization in Greater China” on May 9 at the Sherwood Taipei Hotel. Last December, Morgan Philips completed a wide-ranging survey of professionals working in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, querying them on their experiences of digitilization today and going forward, and the results were suprising.

While more than 60% of survey respondents are already experiencing the impact of digitilization on their jobs, and an even higher number –- over 70% — feel that digitilization will affect their careers, most consider themselves unprepared for these changes. Yet this isn’t a cause for worry for most, as two-thirds of respondents in all age groups consider digitilization an opportunity for career development, higher earnings, and better work-life balance. Interestingly, the same number of respondents –- only 6% — across all age groups see digitilization as a threat.

The crucial point that Raynaud made to guests was that while skilled workers in Greater China consider themselves unprepared, over 60% of Taiwanese and Chinese professionals and 49% of Hong Kong professionals expect to learn how to navigate the digital era through on-the-job training. Opportunities for learning and career advancement play a critical role in employees’ job decision-making, but less than 20% of respondents across all age groups consider that their jobs are actually preparing them adequately. 37% of respondents in Taiwan said that they are not being prepared at all, while 45% said that at least their companies are trying to prepare them.

According to Raynaud, opportunities for digital skills acquisition will likely lead to winners and losers in the hunt for talent in Greater China. Already nearly 20% are planning on changing jobs in 2018 in Taiwan, and 55% are open to new opportunities, and that older workers were as open to new opportunities as younger ones.

In this new digital landscape, good leadership will retain its importance, but will likely be deemphasized as agility, fast decision-making processes, and a more customer-centric approach to business rise in significance.

Raynaud concluded that digital skills are a mindset, and that embracing change and opportunity is the only way to stay ahead of the curve.

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